Dr. Gaskin, a leading U.S. health economist and expert on safety net hospitals, is the William C. and Nancy F. Richardson professor in health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.

Preliminary findings indicate the Health Enterprise Zone (HEZ) initiative is a viable way to reduce inpatient admissions and estimated the net savings of nearly $110 million to the health care system. The study Dr. Gaskin and his team conducted was guided, in part, by results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems (NALSYS) developed by Dr. Glen Mays of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.